Taking a moment to try to absorb what’s happened in #Itaewon tonight where so many young people came for a Halloween night out and ended up tragically losing their lives - 120 so far but emergency vehicles still here. Most people here in their 20s, local, many foreign students
For people who don’t know Seoul, Itaewon is always crowded with partygoers on a Sat night but tonight was especially busy because people were looking forward to celebrating Halloween for the first time since Covid. Many described frightening moments being swept up by the crowd
Witnesses told me they couldn’t breathe and felt lucky to be alive. Still unclear how events unfolded but seems by 11pm the crush of people became unsustainable and that’s when ambulances arrived. Police officers were standing on vehicle roofs trying to get the crowd to clear
There is horrific footage of many victims being given CPR on the street by medics and civilians. When I arrived at midnight there were about 15-20 people covered by a blue tarpaulin. Some had friends mourning beside them. All happening on a regular shopping street
I’m sitting on a step next to a narrow street just behind Itaewon’s high street. It has mainly bars, the police said a crush happened here. I don’t know if this was the only location. It’s now cordoned off while they investigate.
The streets are still packed with people in Halloween costumes. Some have been visibly upset, others confused and don’t know how to get home, others still on a night out, some bars still open, I don’t know how to compute, it’s very surreal
It’s obvious now that #Itaewon and it’s narrow streets just couldn’t cope with the avalanche of partygoers. Did anyone predict this? Were there crowd control measures in place, was this avoidable? Many questions need to be asked in coming days. For now my ❤️ is with the victims
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